Beau, the Wonder Dog

Our Bishypoo, Beau, is the dog of the hour. This morning he led us to the deer my husband killed right before dark last night. It ran off into the woods after being hit and couldn't be tracked in the dark.
It always makes me nervous when a deer is shot, runs off, and has to be tracked. Sometimes you find it and sometimes you don't. I can't stand to think that all that meat is lying in a ditch or the woods somewhere close by but can't be found.
My husband got up early this morning to go look for blood drops, but with so many red leaves on the ground, he wasn't very hopeful of finding any. I told him I wanted to go with him; not because I wanted to see a dead deer. I didn't. I just love getting out into the woods for any reason. It brings back many memories of my childhood when I would go rabbit hunting with my grandpa or just walk through the woods as quietly as possible with my daddy. Darcie wanted to go, too.
So the three of us piled into his pickup truck. I asked if he wanted Beau to go help us, since he's always chasing squirrels and running around a lot with his nose to the ground. I figured he might be a good tracker. He said to bring him, so we loaded Beau up, too.
We drove across our field to where my husband thought he hit the deer, and started looking there. No blood was seen, so we walked into the woods a little ways. I had my eye on Beau whose downed nose was going back and forth. I saw the minute he was on to something and was surprised that he didn't bark. I guess I'm used to Grandpa's beagles baying as soon as they lock onto a scent. I walked away from the other two following Beau deeper into the woods. He stopped and began sniffing like crazy. I walked over and saw dried blood spots. I called to Gayle and showed him what Beau had found. He was pretty excited to know we were on the right track.
We split up again with me just watching and following Beau. He went a little deeper into the woods and I saw the deer's body. He never did bark. Strange. I called everyone over to see, and Gayle began examining the buck to see where the bullet entered and all the other things men look for such as number of points on the rack, estimated weight, size of rack, etc. I was too busy praising Beau and scratching his ears to pay much attention to the deer. I don't like seeing dead animals but am glad for the meat for the freezer.
Later I heard Gayle talking to our son-in-law on the phone. He was just bragging on Beau and saying that we never would have found the deer if not for him. Not a bad morning's work for a furry, white lap dog.

Change of plans I

The plan on Christmas Eve was to clock up another 180km through Mebbin National Park, to the south of Uki. Things all started straight forward enough, as I headed south through Urliup and Murwillumbah, noting as I went that the streams around Urliup hadn't yet reached the heights that the rain suggested they might (this came two days later from what I've been told), and navigating a rather pleasant southerly wind that blew in my face and kept temperatures down to something pleasant. It was after food and sunscreen at Uki that things became more interesting.

The Tweed Shire Council have just spent an inordinate amount of money (and well over six months of time) 'upgrading' a stretch of road just south of Clarrie Hall Dam. I wouldn't normally note this, but it seems to have upset some of the locals. First a rather aggressive dog decided to chase me when probably 99% of them don't bother. I threw an imaginary "rock" at him, and he hesitated for long enough for me to make an escape. Shortly after this, I had another confrontation with the infamous Uki Bomber. Just why a magpie would have a go at someone at this time of year is beyond me, but for some reason it happened here. It was then that I decided I would do the old Tweed Valley Circuit, taking in the dirt roads out to the Pinnacle and through to Tyalgum, rather than deal with this crap all over again on the way home.


This ride turned out to be extremely pleasant in and of itself. Today I had good reason to make the most of it, after recently hearing of the council's plans to build a large dam in the area, which, I understand will see most of the route I now take flooded. The council it seems have already started removing some of the old hippie cottages that gave this area it's unique character, and it really seems to be a waste of time. Instead of trying to build more dams to cope with overpopulation (something that people strangely see as a virtue), they should be requiring water tanks to be build with new dwellings. It would most likely be a lot cheaper, and a lot more effective in the long term. Despite this rather annoying thought, I did manage to enjoy the ride, and commenced the descent to the area around Tyalgum, and The Pinnacle.



The detour out to the Pinnacle has replaced the side trip to Stokers Siding I used to do on this route for extra kilometres, and in my view, it's quite a bit more pleasant. On days like this, of course, any route that travels near the mountains will throw up all sorts of shapes that might not be seen on less cloudy days. The ride into and out of Tyalgum is quite hilly, with two note-worthy climbs to be navigated between Tyalgum and Chillingham. I was still feeling quite good at this stage, so I just ground them out at a steady rhythm, and headed back toward Murwillumbah, for the final stretch over Tomewin, and home.
The easterly wind picked up here, and I expected this to slow me down on the stretch toward Murwillumbah, but for some reason I got though this faster than I expected, maybe the numbers on the road signs overstate the distance here. The climb up Tomewin was made easier than I had planned because of the drenching, cooling and fresh rain that fell here. Although the height of this pass is a modest 355 metres, the clouds totally obscured any views of the surrounding coast and lowlands that might have been visible up here. Still, rainforest at the top here is particularly pleasant on days like this one.
All that was left now was the final stretch home along the coast after the descent. This was made easier by a tailwind that helped me get through suburbia a little quicker. All up, it was a very fulfilling 175km, and just what I needed as a diversion from the madness and insanity that generally represents this time of year. Bring on the next one.

Bring Your Own Kid Mountain Biking

Saturday was a blustery day for THOR's Bring Your Own Kid Mountain Biking day. This was held in conjunction IMBA's annual function. Temperatures hovered in the 40s with gusty winds from the NW. THOR's party was held in Tranquility Park, Omaha.

The photo is the kids on their bikes and ready to ride some singletrack.

The group headed out for a ride on the Tranquility Park trail. Then it was time for food. Dave, the THOR Grill Master, had grub ready.

After lunch, the kids tested their bike handling abilities with an obstacle course. The adults were ready to help learn techniques and offer some encouragement. The day ending with a pinata filled with candy.

There were plans for "smores" but folks were ready to call it a day, getting out if the cold. All-in-all, a good time was had by all.

Watchin' The Rain

What could be better than listening to a hard rain, drinking a cup of Lady Grey tea, reading a good book, and having a sweet kitty on my lap?

Result!

It's exam results day in Scotland. 160,000 students receive their Advanced Highers, Highers, Intermediate, Standard Grade and Access results in the post today. These are the major school exams, used among other things for university entry.
Some 30,000 received their results by text yesterday, in error. The results are meant to come out on the same day by text, email and post, but those who had signed up to the text service were surprised to find a message with their results beeping on their phones yesterday afternoon. Cue much media sound and fury, even though the results themselves were accurate and no applicants were disadvanted in their university application by the phased release, because the universities already had all the results.
Among the early batch was my daughter, who received her Highers results. Below is a close-up of her certificate which arrived today. The Highers she sat this year are the first five in the list, and there then follow last year's results for the remaining eight grades.

Needless to say she's delighted, and so are we. Next up for her last year at school, Advanced Highers in History, Modern Studies and Music.

More on Simplifying

I'm loving this book by Janice Elsheimer called The Creative Call. Chapter 8 is on Simplifying. I've been thinking about and doing 'simplifying my life' for over twenty years.
At first I thought that if we moved to the country and grew our own food, hung out my clothes to dry, chopped our firewood, and homeschooled the children, then we would have a simple life. Ha!
Here are some quotes from this book that says it better than I can.
"Self-sufficiency and simplifying one's life are not synonymous." That's the truth! It only gives you more to do. Of course, if that's what you want to spend your time doing (and I do) then that's fine. Just know that your life won't be simpler when you take on more things to do.
Greek philosopher Democritus wrote, "Let your occupations be few if you would lead a tranquil life." Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antonius wrote, "Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. Remember this--that very little is needed to make a happy life."
In her article "Simplifying Life," Susan Pilgrim writes, "Fundamentally, 'simplifying' is determining what's really important to you."
So to find out what's important to us, Elsheimer gives us an exercise to write down ten things that are important to us and then to prioritize the list. Here's mine:
1. My faith-God2. Family3. Home4. Homeschooling-Education5. Creativity6. Church7. Being a Titus 2 Women8. Friends9. Community10. Travel
This is a great book for everyone, not just artists. I believe everyone is an artist; some have just repressed it. More on this book later.

Merry Christmas

From all us turkeys.